1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote control method and a remote control apparatus applied to remotely control, for example, a television receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
External devices such as a recording device and a video signal reproduction device are connected to a television receiver. Video signals as information signals received from these devices are displayed on a display section such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor of the television receiver. If respective remote control apparatus (hereinafter referred to as remote controllers) are used for the television receiver and individual external devices, since the number of remote controllers corresponding to the number of these devices increases, the user feels inconvenient.
A remote controller that can remotely control a television receiver and a plurality of devices such as a recording device is known as a so-called multi-remote controller. FIG. 1A shows an example of a multi-remote controller of a related art. Connected to a television receiver 1 is an external AV device, for example, a recorder 40 such as a Blu-ray disc recorder. Connected between the television receiver 1 and the recorder 40 is an analog interface or a digital interface 9 (not shown) that can exchange video signals or audio signals.
A remote controller 20 includes an operation section having a plurality of buttons (also called keys). The operation section includes common buttons that control the television receiver 1 and the recorder 40 and device dedicated buttons. The remote controller 20 includes a TV input section button 31 and selection buttons 32a and 32b. FIG. 1A shows an outline of the remote controller 20, part of which is omitted.
The TV input section button 31 is used to select a picture displayed on a display section 2 of the television receiver 1. In other words, the TV input section button 31 selects one of an output video signal of an internal tuner of the television receiver 1 and a video signal from the recorder 40. The TV input section button 31 is structured to toggle one selection state to another selection state whenever pressed.
The selection buttons 32a and 32b are buttons used to set up respective devices to be controlled. When the selector button 32a is pressed, the remote controller 20 generates a control code to control the television receiver 1. When the selector button 32b is pressed, the remote controller 20 generates a control code to control the recorder 40. A control code is transmitted as an infrared signal or a radio wave to the television receiver 1 or the recorder 40.
A table of control codes has been stored in a non-volatile memory of the remote controller 20 such that a control code can be generated according to the category (or device type) and a manufacturer name of an external device. Categories represent concepts of Blu-ray disc recorder, DVD recorder, VCR, and so forth. Device types represent those identified by categories, manufacturer names, and device type numbers. If the remote controller 20 is packaged along with the television receiver 1, the remote controller 20 can transmit control codes that the remote controller 20 can interpret without necessity of a special setup operation. However, with respect to the recorder 40, the remote controller 20 is necessary to be set up for the recorder 40 about it manufacturer name (or device type).
For example, a list of manufacturer codes (or an instruction manual) is provided. With reference to the list, an initial setup is performed to control the recorder 40. Specifically, control codes are set up with buttons of the remote controller 20.
By pressing the TV input section button 31, the user selects an output of the internal tuber or a reproduction output of the recorder 40 as a picture to be displayed on the television receiver 1. Thereafter, by pressing the selector button 32a or 32b corresponding to the selection state of the TV input section button 31, the user can control the device that outputs a picture that is being displayed.
In the multi-remote controller of the related art, unless the TV input state matches the selection state of the remote controller, the remote controller is not capable of controlling a picture that the user is watching. For example, a situation in which even if the user presses a channel up/down button with the remote controller, the channel of the television receiver is not changed to another channel occurs.
As shown in FIG. 1B, the TV input section button 31 that toggles one state to another state is separated into a TV input button 31a and an external input button 31b. When the TV input button 31a is pressed, the state in which the output of the internal tuner of the television receiver 1 is selected occurs. When the external input button 31b is pressed, the state in which a video signal of the recorder 40 is selected occurs. The TV input button 31a and the external input button 31b are self-illuminated buttons. Although the user can easily know the input selection state with these buttons in comparison with that of the toggle-type TV input selection button 31, the number of buttons adversely increases.
As shown in FIG. 1C, the function of the TV input button 31a (that selects an output of the internal tuner as a picture to be displayed) and the function of the selection button 32a (that sets up the remote controller 20 to generate control codes for the television receiver 1) are integrated by one button 33a. Likewise, the function of the external input button 31b (that selects the output of the recorder 40 as a picture to be displayed) and the function of the selector button 32b (that sets up the remote controller 20 to generate control codes for the recorder 40) are integrated by one button 33b. 
In this structure, a problem in which the input selection state of the television receiver 1 does not match the selection state of the remote controller 20 can be prevented. However, if there are a plurality of remote controllers that control the television receiver 1 and the recorder 40, it is likely that the state in which the remote controller 20 does not match the TV input state occurs. In addition, if the TV input is changed with a button of the television receiver 1 instead of the remote controller 20, such a mismatch state may occur.
Next, with reference to FIG. 2, further, another example of a multi-remote controller of a related art will be described. This example is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 62-284583, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-198115, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2, describes a remote controller that integrates the foregoing TV input selection button and the device selection buttons.
A connection 34 is disposed between the television receiver 1 and the recorder 40 to transmit control codes to the recorder 40. The connection 34 is, for example, a digital interface. The remote controller 20 has the TV input selection button 31. When a common connection button is pressed on the remote controller 20, it transmits a control code that represents the pressed button to the television receiver 1 without changing the control code.
When the television receiver 1 receives a code from the remote controller 20, if the television receiver 1 is displaying an output of the internal tuner, the television receiver 1 itself receives the code. In contrast, if the television receiver 1 is selectively displaying an external input from the recorder 40, the television receiver 1 transmits the received code to the recorder 40 through the connection 34. In this case, the television receiver 1 has a table that converts the received code into a control code that the recorder 40 can understand. The converted code is supplied to the recorder 40 through the connection 34.
The remote control method shown in FIG. 2 can solve the foregoing problem of the related art. The multi-remote controller described with reference to FIG. 1A is not capable of controlling a picture that the user is watching unless the TV input state matches the selection state of the remote controller. However, in the method shown in FIG. 2, since the television receiver 1 that receives a code from the remote controller determines the own input selection state, even if such a mismatch occurs, the remote controller can remotely control an objective device.
In the multi-remote controller described with reference to FIG. 1C, if there are a plurality of remote controllers, it is likely that the state of the remote controller 20 does not match the TV input state. If the TV input is selected with a button of the television receiver 1 instead of the remote controller 20, such a mismatch state may occur. However, in the method shown in FIG. 2, the device can be remotely controlled even if such a mismatch state occurs.